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Racing to treat a patient in need of critical care. | 0:00:02 | 0:00:04 | |
Yeah, 5-2, can I have a crew, please? | 0:00:04 | 0:00:06 | |
This is the West Midlands Ambulance Service. | 0:00:06 | 0:00:09 | |
This could've been a fatal incident, 100%. | 0:00:09 | 0:00:11 | |
A dedicated team of doctors and paramedics. | 0:00:11 | 0:00:14 | |
-Hi there, your ambulance. -Don't like it when they cry. | 0:00:14 | 0:00:17 | |
They respond to a million 999 calls every year. | 0:00:17 | 0:00:20 | |
SHE GROANS Fighting to save lives. | 0:00:21 | 0:00:23 | |
Basically, went straight up in the air, crashing down. | 0:00:23 | 0:00:27 | |
Because some emergencies are so severe... | 0:00:27 | 0:00:29 | |
-He's fractured his femur. -..treatment must begin... | 0:00:29 | 0:00:33 | |
-Take a deep breath in, mate. -..out on the road. | 0:00:33 | 0:00:35 | |
I am grateful to every paramedic. | 0:00:35 | 0:00:37 | |
If I could give him a medal, I would. | 0:00:37 | 0:00:40 | |
AMBULANCE SIREN | 0:00:40 | 0:00:41 | |
Today, a near fatal motorbike crash. | 0:00:45 | 0:00:47 | |
I basically went straight up in the air, about 20 to 25 feet. | 0:00:47 | 0:00:53 | |
A toddler needs help after a seizure. | 0:00:53 | 0:00:56 | |
It's a real pressure, dealing with children. | 0:00:56 | 0:00:58 | |
And the smaller they are, the more pressure you feel. | 0:00:58 | 0:01:01 | |
And John treats a woman in unbearable pain. | 0:01:01 | 0:01:04 | |
I've had very dark days - and I have cried and cried. | 0:01:04 | 0:01:08 | |
AMBULANCE SIREN | 0:01:08 | 0:01:10 | |
Working alongside the West Midlands Ambulance Service paramedics | 0:01:16 | 0:01:20 | |
is a voluntary organisations called BASICS. | 0:01:20 | 0:01:23 | |
BASICS stands for the British Association | 0:01:23 | 0:01:25 | |
of Immediate Care Specialists. | 0:01:25 | 0:01:27 | |
-BEEP -Roger, many thanks. Out. | 0:01:27 | 0:01:29 | |
It's purely charitable, what we do. It's all in our own time. | 0:01:29 | 0:01:32 | |
Just aiming to bring the skills that we've learned | 0:01:32 | 0:01:34 | |
and use every day in the hospital, | 0:01:34 | 0:01:36 | |
and taking those out to work alongside paramedics, | 0:01:36 | 0:01:38 | |
and just assist them in these more complicated injuries. | 0:01:38 | 0:01:41 | |
OK, we're going to a two-year-old girl, | 0:01:46 | 0:01:47 | |
who's been found by her mum, fitting. | 0:01:47 | 0:01:49 | |
The most common cause of fitting in young children is having a high | 0:01:49 | 0:01:52 | |
temperature, or being diagnosed with epilepsy. | 0:01:52 | 0:01:55 | |
Around one in 50 children will have a febrile convulsion or fit | 0:02:05 | 0:02:09 | |
before they turn five. | 0:02:09 | 0:02:10 | |
-How do we get in to you? Round here? -Round this way. -Okey doke. | 0:02:10 | 0:02:13 | |
In the worst case scenario, a fit can be life-threatening. | 0:02:13 | 0:02:17 | |
INDISTINCT SPEECH | 0:02:17 | 0:02:19 | |
Ben needs to quickly assess the toddler. | 0:02:19 | 0:02:22 | |
-OK, hello there. -Hiya... -How are we doing? | 0:02:22 | 0:02:25 | |
INDISTINCT SPEECH | 0:02:25 | 0:02:27 | |
Has this young one been diagnosed with fits before? | 0:02:27 | 0:02:30 | |
She's had a fit before, cos of a high temperature. | 0:02:30 | 0:02:32 | |
-OK. -But she hasn't been diagnosed with epilepsy or anything like that. | 0:02:32 | 0:02:36 | |
OK. Let's have a quick... | 0:02:36 | 0:02:37 | |
'Ashanti's temperature was way above 39 degrees, | 0:02:37 | 0:02:41 | |
'so she was very, very hot. | 0:02:41 | 0:02:43 | |
'Much too hot for a baby.' | 0:02:43 | 0:02:45 | |
And that's almost certainly why she fitted. | 0:02:45 | 0:02:47 | |
So what was she doing earlier? | 0:02:47 | 0:02:48 | |
She was lying on the sofa with me, then, next minute, | 0:02:48 | 0:02:50 | |
-I just noticed that she was fitting. -OK. | 0:02:50 | 0:02:53 | |
Fine. And when you say fitting, what do you mean by fitting? | 0:02:53 | 0:02:56 | |
-Foaming from the mouth a bit. -OK, OK. -Shaking. -Shaking. | 0:02:56 | 0:02:59 | |
And she's stopped shaking since then. | 0:02:59 | 0:03:00 | |
-Yeah, she's stopped shaking. -How long did the shaking last? | 0:03:00 | 0:03:03 | |
-About ten minutes. -Big stretch. | 0:03:03 | 0:03:06 | |
Hello there, sweetie. | 0:03:06 | 0:03:07 | |
Aren't I horrible? | 0:03:07 | 0:03:09 | |
Let's pop your finger in there. | 0:03:09 | 0:03:11 | |
So, sometimes people do fit again, OK? | 0:03:14 | 0:03:17 | |
So don't be worried, she's got the right people here now, | 0:03:17 | 0:03:20 | |
and we've got an ambulance on the way, and we will be going in. OK? | 0:03:20 | 0:03:24 | |
It's a real pressure, dealing with children. | 0:03:24 | 0:03:27 | |
And the smaller they are, the more pressure you feel. | 0:03:27 | 0:03:30 | |
ASHANTI BREATHES HEAVILY | 0:03:30 | 0:03:32 | |
Well done. Thank you very much. So this is just a little bit of oxygen, | 0:03:32 | 0:03:35 | |
because her oxygenation isn't perfect. | 0:03:35 | 0:03:38 | |
It's nothing that I would be worried about, but I can... | 0:03:38 | 0:03:41 | |
Oh, look at that. | 0:03:41 | 0:03:43 | |
One of the causes of a fit could be not enough | 0:03:43 | 0:03:45 | |
oxygenation in the brain. So we give it for that reason. | 0:03:45 | 0:03:48 | |
The other reason is we want to make sure there's plenty of oxygen | 0:03:48 | 0:03:51 | |
getting to the brain, | 0:03:51 | 0:03:52 | |
because there's increased brain activity during a fit. | 0:03:52 | 0:03:55 | |
I've never seen a child have a fit. | 0:03:55 | 0:03:57 | |
Oh, dear. It's not nice, is it? Especially not when you're Mum. | 0:03:57 | 0:04:01 | |
All right. | 0:04:01 | 0:04:02 | |
All right, sweetie... Hello there. Let's just leave you where you are. | 0:04:02 | 0:04:05 | |
Well done. | 0:04:05 | 0:04:07 | |
The ambulance team arrive and Ben updates them on Ashanti's condition. | 0:04:07 | 0:04:11 | |
She's coming round a bit. She's eye-opening. | 0:04:11 | 0:04:14 | |
We'll just see what the BM is. | 0:04:14 | 0:04:15 | |
Do you mind taking over the head end and just...? | 0:04:15 | 0:04:18 | |
She's maintaining her own airway. | 0:04:18 | 0:04:19 | |
The respiratory rate's 24, erm, and GPS is picking up as we go along. | 0:04:19 | 0:04:24 | |
She's just eye-opened spontaneously. | 0:04:24 | 0:04:26 | |
I'll just have a quick word with your crewmate | 0:04:26 | 0:04:28 | |
and I'll give him a hand getting | 0:04:28 | 0:04:29 | |
-everything prepared so we can get her into hospital. -Smashing. | 0:04:29 | 0:04:32 | |
Concerned Ashanti may have another fit in the ambulance, | 0:04:32 | 0:04:36 | |
the crew need to be ready to deal with it. | 0:04:36 | 0:04:39 | |
We want to have intravenous access, so we can give the necessary drugs | 0:04:39 | 0:04:42 | |
in order to stop any further fitting. | 0:04:42 | 0:04:45 | |
But hopefully, if we can get her temperature down, | 0:04:45 | 0:04:48 | |
we can reduce the risk of that. | 0:04:48 | 0:04:50 | |
-ASHANTI CRIES -OK. | 0:04:50 | 0:04:52 | |
Ben, if you... The head end is at the far end, | 0:04:52 | 0:04:54 | |
so if you want to lay her down here. | 0:04:54 | 0:04:57 | |
That's great. And if you want to sit next to her. | 0:04:57 | 0:05:00 | |
OK. Well done. | 0:05:00 | 0:05:01 | |
Ashanti's dad, Rich, has rushed home to be with her. | 0:05:01 | 0:05:06 | |
What you been doing? Hiya. What's happened? It's all right. | 0:05:06 | 0:05:10 | |
Sometimes they get a bit confused after a fit, | 0:05:10 | 0:05:12 | |
so she might not be recognising you particularly much, | 0:05:12 | 0:05:15 | |
but that's just cos she's had a fit. OK? Nothing to worry about. | 0:05:15 | 0:05:18 | |
What's happened? | 0:05:18 | 0:05:20 | |
Now, I'm going to try to put a little plastic needle in her hand, | 0:05:24 | 0:05:26 | |
so if you want to concentrate on leaning over that side, | 0:05:26 | 0:05:28 | |
so she can see you over there. | 0:05:28 | 0:05:30 | |
-Asha. -OK. -Over here, babe. | 0:05:30 | 0:05:32 | |
-Well done. Well done. -Well done. -OK. | 0:05:32 | 0:05:35 | |
-It's all right. -I need to pop a cannula in. | 0:05:35 | 0:05:37 | |
If she is going to fit again, I need to be able to give her drugs. | 0:05:37 | 0:05:41 | |
Erm... And the only way we can reliably give drugs | 0:05:41 | 0:05:44 | |
is by giving them into her vein, | 0:05:44 | 0:05:46 | |
so if we can easily get access, we'll get it. | 0:05:46 | 0:05:48 | |
OK, so a horrible scratch coming up for her, so... | 0:05:48 | 0:05:52 | |
VOICES TALK OVER EACH OTHER | 0:05:52 | 0:05:55 | |
Nasty scratch. | 0:05:55 | 0:05:56 | |
ASHANTI CRIES | 0:05:56 | 0:05:58 | |
-OK, my love. OK. -It's all right. | 0:05:58 | 0:06:00 | |
A bit of a high temperature and a bit of a high sugar, | 0:06:00 | 0:06:03 | |
so what we're doing, we'll just run her in, just to make sure that everything's OK. | 0:06:03 | 0:06:06 | |
Erm, there could be 101 things, especially with children. | 0:06:06 | 0:06:09 | |
They can do really well and then crash really easily, | 0:06:09 | 0:06:11 | |
but it don't seem the case, so it's all just playing it safe for the moment. | 0:06:11 | 0:06:15 | |
AMBULANCE SIREN | 0:06:15 | 0:06:17 | |
What's our ETA? | 0:06:17 | 0:06:19 | |
BEEPING | 0:06:19 | 0:06:20 | |
-It's OK. -Ooh, dear. | 0:06:20 | 0:06:21 | |
Eight minutes. Brilliant. | 0:06:21 | 0:06:23 | |
She has a temperature, initial temperature of 40, | 0:06:23 | 0:06:26 | |
which has come down to 37.8 now. | 0:06:26 | 0:06:29 | |
She hasn't fitted since | 0:06:29 | 0:06:31 | |
and her level of consciousness has improved since then, | 0:06:31 | 0:06:35 | |
so she's now eye-opening spontaneously. | 0:06:35 | 0:06:38 | |
A little bit confused, not particularly attentive to Mum. | 0:06:38 | 0:06:41 | |
But I think she's probably someone who'd benefit | 0:06:41 | 0:06:44 | |
from either coming to resus or the children's area, | 0:06:44 | 0:06:47 | |
just to be kept an eye on, maybe some intravenous paracetamol, | 0:06:47 | 0:06:51 | |
erm, you know, et cetera. | 0:06:51 | 0:06:54 | |
Our ETA is six minutes from now, OK? | 0:06:54 | 0:06:57 | |
'Mum was really quite distressed by this, | 0:06:59 | 0:07:01 | |
'but she did an absolutely excellent job.' | 0:07:01 | 0:07:03 | |
Yeah, go on, follow alongside, hold her hand if you want to. | 0:07:03 | 0:07:05 | |
'I want to reiterate to her what a great job she did.' | 0:07:05 | 0:07:09 | |
At Royal Stoke University Hospital, | 0:07:09 | 0:07:11 | |
Ashanti is taken into the children's area. | 0:07:11 | 0:07:13 | |
-Hello, hello, hello. -Hello. | 0:07:13 | 0:07:15 | |
-How are you doing? -Hiya. | 0:07:15 | 0:07:17 | |
This is young Ashanti. | 0:07:17 | 0:07:19 | |
-She's two years old. -Mm-hm. | 0:07:19 | 0:07:21 | |
She's had one previous episode of a, erm, febrile convulsion. | 0:07:21 | 0:07:27 | |
ASHANTI CRIES | 0:07:27 | 0:07:29 | |
-Oh, dear. -Oh, no... | 0:07:29 | 0:07:31 | |
I don't like it when they cry. | 0:07:31 | 0:07:32 | |
Hopefully she won't fit again, | 0:07:35 | 0:07:37 | |
but if she does, she's in the right place. | 0:07:37 | 0:07:39 | |
They've got better lighting, | 0:07:39 | 0:07:40 | |
they've got full equipment, they've got more pairs of hands. | 0:07:40 | 0:07:42 | |
So if she fitted again, | 0:07:42 | 0:07:44 | |
we'd be in the right place, pop some IV access in | 0:07:44 | 0:07:46 | |
and give her any appropriate drugs. | 0:07:46 | 0:07:48 | |
-OK? Right, take care. -Thank you for helping. -Bye-bye. | 0:07:48 | 0:07:52 | |
Today, she was just lying down on the sofa, behind her mum's legs. | 0:07:52 | 0:07:55 | |
Her mum felt a couple of kicks, thought she was playing, | 0:07:55 | 0:07:58 | |
and she turned around and saw that she was having | 0:07:58 | 0:08:00 | |
a convulsion... | 0:08:00 | 0:08:02 | |
and then got on the phone to me, | 0:08:02 | 0:08:04 | |
and I had to go, get back sharpish, type of thing. | 0:08:04 | 0:08:06 | |
So...scary. Very scary. | 0:08:06 | 0:08:09 | |
You know. I'll have a little cry about it later. | 0:08:09 | 0:08:12 | |
Off camera, of course. | 0:08:12 | 0:08:13 | |
The good news is that Ashanti was given the all-clear | 0:08:15 | 0:08:18 | |
and discharged from hospital the next day. | 0:08:18 | 0:08:20 | |
AMBULANCE SIREN | 0:08:23 | 0:08:25 | |
The rapid response vehicles were set up | 0:08:30 | 0:08:32 | |
because we can get through traffic quicker. | 0:08:32 | 0:08:35 | |
Every second counts when somebody's critically ill, | 0:08:35 | 0:08:37 | |
and we can get there and stabilise the patient | 0:08:37 | 0:08:40 | |
before the ambulance gets there. | 0:08:40 | 0:08:42 | |
I used to have my own business, I did hair and beauty, | 0:08:42 | 0:08:44 | |
and also I worked for Richard Branson on Virgin Atlantic. | 0:08:44 | 0:08:47 | |
I was an in-flight beauty therapist for six years. | 0:08:47 | 0:08:50 | |
It's not much different, I still deal with the public, | 0:08:52 | 0:08:55 | |
erm, still have interesting days, | 0:08:55 | 0:08:57 | |
but unfortunately, not going to the exotic locations that I used to. | 0:08:57 | 0:09:01 | |
Today, Simone is heading to the scene of a motorbike accident. | 0:09:01 | 0:09:04 | |
We're going on the way to Kidderminster, | 0:09:04 | 0:09:07 | |
and it's a motorcyclist versus a car. | 0:09:07 | 0:09:10 | |
All the information we have at the moment is the car driver | 0:09:10 | 0:09:15 | |
is very shaken and the motorcyclist seems badly injured. | 0:09:15 | 0:09:19 | |
So, obviously with the nice weather, a lot of motorcyclists are about, | 0:09:27 | 0:09:30 | |
especially on this stretch of road. | 0:09:30 | 0:09:32 | |
It tends to go out into the country a little bit more. | 0:09:32 | 0:09:36 | |
It's a fast road and it's obviously very straight, | 0:09:36 | 0:09:39 | |
so we do have quite a few. | 0:09:39 | 0:09:41 | |
Hi there. Who is the driver of the vehicle? | 0:09:48 | 0:09:52 | |
Were you on your own? Are you OK? Yep. | 0:09:52 | 0:09:55 | |
A consultant paramedic and a passing nurse are already on scene. | 0:09:57 | 0:10:01 | |
The worst thing to see is somebody on the floor and they haven't moved, | 0:10:01 | 0:10:05 | |
cos most people will get themselves up. | 0:10:05 | 0:10:07 | |
But if you see a motorcyclists lying on the ground, you know, | 0:10:07 | 0:10:10 | |
you fear the worst. | 0:10:10 | 0:10:12 | |
Whereabouts is it? Is it below your elbow? | 0:10:12 | 0:10:14 | |
-On the elbow. -On your elbow. -Just on your elbow. | 0:10:14 | 0:10:16 | |
We're going to have to cut your jacket, OK? | 0:10:16 | 0:10:19 | |
Can I move this arm? I'm just going to put some sticky dots on... | 0:10:19 | 0:10:21 | |
'We checked his full vital signs to make sure there was no other injury, | 0:10:21 | 0:10:25 | |
'cos it can be distracting, cos you're in pain, | 0:10:25 | 0:10:27 | |
'but other things, more serious, are going on. | 0:10:27 | 0:10:30 | |
'Neck, back-wise, spinal injuries.' | 0:10:30 | 0:10:32 | |
We're looking, erm, | 0:10:32 | 0:10:33 | |
obviously for life-threatening injuries, for bleeds. | 0:10:33 | 0:10:36 | |
The biker was on his way to work when the accident happened. | 0:10:39 | 0:10:43 | |
As I came round the corner, | 0:10:43 | 0:10:45 | |
I saw a car. | 0:10:45 | 0:10:47 | |
It was indicating to turn, | 0:10:47 | 0:10:49 | |
so I started to slow down a little bit. | 0:10:49 | 0:10:51 | |
And as I got to the first entrance of the pub, he decided to go. | 0:10:51 | 0:10:54 | |
From what I've been told, when I impacted, | 0:10:54 | 0:10:58 | |
I basically went straight up in the air, about 20 to 25 feet, | 0:10:58 | 0:11:03 | |
and then I came crashing down, | 0:11:03 | 0:11:06 | |
headfirst, straight into the tarmac. | 0:11:06 | 0:11:08 | |
I don't remember the impact. | 0:11:08 | 0:11:10 | |
I remember looking up and seeing blue, bluey-grey sky. | 0:11:10 | 0:11:14 | |
The next thing I remember is waking up to the paramedics working on me. | 0:11:14 | 0:11:18 | |
Do you remember everything, Simon? Everything that happened? | 0:11:18 | 0:11:22 | |
-Not exactly, no. -Not exactly. | 0:11:22 | 0:11:24 | |
INDISTINCT SPEECH | 0:11:24 | 0:11:26 | |
HISSING SOUND | 0:11:26 | 0:11:27 | |
Still no pain anywhere else? | 0:11:29 | 0:11:31 | |
-Just my left arm. -Just your left arm, still your left arm, all right. | 0:11:31 | 0:11:34 | |
When we go into a high impact job, | 0:11:34 | 0:11:36 | |
we do expect broken-boned people can bleed | 0:11:36 | 0:11:39 | |
and lose excessive amounts of blood, | 0:11:39 | 0:11:42 | |
so we are very aware that we do need to make sure | 0:11:42 | 0:11:45 | |
that this isn't going to cause | 0:11:45 | 0:11:47 | |
catastrophic haemorrhage for the patient. | 0:11:47 | 0:11:50 | |
There's a bit of blood on your... | 0:11:50 | 0:11:52 | |
coming from your jacket. Can you ascertain where that's from? | 0:11:52 | 0:11:55 | |
I'm cutting your jacket. | 0:11:55 | 0:11:57 | |
I was just saying, he's got the right kit on, chaps. | 0:11:57 | 0:11:59 | |
-He has... -We were just was saying that as we were coming. | 0:11:59 | 0:12:02 | |
'I do remember hearing the paramedics talking. | 0:12:02 | 0:12:05 | |
'The things that I could hear didn't sound good. | 0:12:05 | 0:12:08 | |
'I was concerned about internal bleeding.' | 0:12:08 | 0:12:10 | |
Although I've got my bike gear on, | 0:12:10 | 0:12:13 | |
there is the nickname of bike gear as the body bag. | 0:12:13 | 0:12:16 | |
To hear the Air Ambulance in the sky, | 0:12:19 | 0:12:21 | |
when I heard that, I was quite scared for how bad, injured I was. | 0:12:21 | 0:12:26 | |
I thought at first it was just my arm, and just cuts and bruises. | 0:12:26 | 0:12:32 | |
But to hear the Air Ambulance, | 0:12:32 | 0:12:34 | |
it made me think that I'd had a lucky escape. | 0:12:34 | 0:12:37 | |
All right, sweetheart. | 0:12:37 | 0:12:39 | |
OK. | 0:12:39 | 0:12:41 | |
Do you think you lost consciousness, at all? | 0:12:41 | 0:12:43 | |
-You don't know what's happened. -Don't worry. | 0:12:45 | 0:12:47 | |
The paramedics decide to take Simon to hospital by road ambulance. | 0:12:47 | 0:12:52 | |
Hi there. | 0:12:52 | 0:12:54 | |
Just can we get the stretcher? And we'll get the thing and everything, yeah. | 0:12:54 | 0:12:57 | |
-That's great. -That's great. -It's really, really hurting. | 0:12:57 | 0:13:00 | |
-OK? -All right. | 0:13:00 | 0:13:01 | |
I'm going to give you some oxygen, that will help. | 0:13:01 | 0:13:04 | |
It is going to be a bit painful, | 0:13:04 | 0:13:05 | |
cos we're going to put this splint on your arm, Simon. | 0:13:05 | 0:13:08 | |
-That's the morphine. Keep breathing that gas. -Deep breaths. | 0:13:08 | 0:13:11 | |
'Any broken bones that we find, we want to immobilise them.' | 0:13:11 | 0:13:15 | |
It will help with the flow of oxygen, the flow of blood. | 0:13:15 | 0:13:19 | |
Unfortunately, it is going to hurt. | 0:13:19 | 0:13:20 | |
-SIMON GROANS -Sorry, sweetheart. | 0:13:20 | 0:13:23 | |
-Sorry. -Deep breaths. | 0:13:23 | 0:13:24 | |
With Simon, there was a high probability that he might have spinal injury, | 0:13:24 | 0:13:28 | |
so we have to immobilise him, | 0:13:28 | 0:13:30 | |
and then we use head blocks and try to... | 0:13:30 | 0:13:32 | |
Limited movement for him, so there's no more damage, | 0:13:32 | 0:13:35 | |
if there was any damage to his spinal cord. | 0:13:35 | 0:13:38 | |
-OK. Ready? -Yeah. -Steady, roll. | 0:13:38 | 0:13:41 | |
Well done, Simon. Well done, well done, well done. | 0:13:41 | 0:13:44 | |
When he gets to hospital, Simon will be given a full body scan. | 0:13:44 | 0:13:48 | |
We're just going to lift you now, Simon. | 0:13:48 | 0:13:50 | |
So if you just put your arm there, that'll be great. | 0:13:50 | 0:13:53 | |
-OK? Ready? -Ready, steady, lift. | 0:13:54 | 0:13:58 | |
There we go. | 0:13:59 | 0:14:00 | |
Simon suffered some serious injuries, | 0:14:03 | 0:14:05 | |
but something positive also happened | 0:14:05 | 0:14:07 | |
because of his accident. | 0:14:07 | 0:14:09 | |
Prior to the accident, | 0:14:09 | 0:14:10 | |
me and my wife were going through a separation. | 0:14:10 | 0:14:13 | |
The day of the accident, | 0:14:13 | 0:14:15 | |
it made me realise, and I remember being... | 0:14:15 | 0:14:18 | |
laying on the road, just asking for my wife. | 0:14:18 | 0:14:21 | |
I heard that he'd been in a full bike accident and he was going | 0:14:21 | 0:14:25 | |
for a full body scan. I was thinking, I need to get to | 0:14:25 | 0:14:28 | |
the hospital, I need to get to him. When I finally got there, | 0:14:28 | 0:14:30 | |
I just couldn't believe the sight I saw. | 0:14:30 | 0:14:33 | |
I'll never get that image out of my head, | 0:14:33 | 0:14:35 | |
where he was covered in blood. | 0:14:35 | 0:14:36 | |
His mouth was just... You couldn't see his teeth for blood. | 0:14:36 | 0:14:40 | |
When my wife turned up, she just walks in, | 0:14:40 | 0:14:43 | |
takes my hand and gives me a cuddle and says, "You're going to be OK." | 0:14:43 | 0:14:47 | |
And it was the words I needed to hear. | 0:14:47 | 0:14:50 | |
Scans revealed no internal bleeding or spinal damage, but Simon has | 0:14:52 | 0:14:56 | |
shattered his elbow in five places. | 0:14:56 | 0:14:59 | |
He believes he's lucky to be alive. | 0:15:01 | 0:15:03 | |
Looking at my bike gear, | 0:15:06 | 0:15:07 | |
it looks like I've put my left arm out | 0:15:07 | 0:15:10 | |
against my forehead, which saved my life. | 0:15:10 | 0:15:14 | |
Although I've broken my elbow, | 0:15:14 | 0:15:17 | |
if I hadn't have put my arm up, | 0:15:17 | 0:15:20 | |
then potentially, I could've bent my head back | 0:15:20 | 0:15:24 | |
and snapped my neck. | 0:15:24 | 0:15:25 | |
Sorry, sweetheart. | 0:15:27 | 0:15:29 | |
OK. Whereabouts is it hurting? | 0:15:29 | 0:15:31 | |
My arm is really, really hurting. | 0:15:31 | 0:15:33 | |
-RACHEL: -Just seeing it, seeing all that blood. | 0:15:33 | 0:15:35 | |
-Going to give you some oxygen, that will help. -I knew it was bad... | 0:15:35 | 0:15:40 | |
Seeing it like that is... | 0:15:40 | 0:15:42 | |
-Oh, my God. -SIMON GROANS | 0:15:42 | 0:15:43 | |
Sorry, sweetheart. Sorry. | 0:15:43 | 0:15:45 | |
The accident may have saved their marriage. | 0:15:45 | 0:15:48 | |
Whee! | 0:15:49 | 0:15:51 | |
Choo-choo! | 0:15:51 | 0:15:53 | |
Yeah, we're going to try to make it work for our daughter and for ourselves, | 0:15:53 | 0:15:56 | |
cos it's obvious that there's still a lot of feelings there. | 0:15:56 | 0:15:59 | |
It has brought us closer, put things into perspective with | 0:15:59 | 0:16:03 | |
what's important, and hopefully we'll see if we can sort things out. | 0:16:03 | 0:16:07 | |
Obviously, I won't be getting on another motorbike again, | 0:16:07 | 0:16:10 | |
because of Mary. | 0:16:10 | 0:16:11 | |
I don't want to risk the next time something happens | 0:16:11 | 0:16:15 | |
to not survive it and then leave Mary without a dad. | 0:16:15 | 0:16:18 | |
AMBULANCE SIREN | 0:16:21 | 0:16:22 | |
I have been in the Ambulance Service for 16 years now. | 0:16:28 | 0:16:31 | |
I've been a paramedic for just nearly ten. | 0:16:31 | 0:16:34 | |
The worst thing about being a paramedic, it's the strain | 0:16:34 | 0:16:37 | |
within the service. The amount of jobs that we do. | 0:16:37 | 0:16:40 | |
They're escalating, they're getting bigger and bigger by the day. | 0:16:40 | 0:16:42 | |
The best thing, it's the ultimate, it's saving someone's life. | 0:16:42 | 0:16:45 | |
Being there and the actions you do actually saves someone's life. | 0:16:45 | 0:16:48 | |
I don't think there there's any other feeling that you can have. | 0:16:48 | 0:16:51 | |
In 16 years, it's done me fine, fingers crossed. | 0:16:51 | 0:16:55 | |
Today, John is going to treat a woman experiencing extreme pain. | 0:16:57 | 0:17:00 | |
Currently on our way to a lady who is suffering with severe | 0:17:00 | 0:17:05 | |
abdominal pain. Said it's going into her back and into her groin. | 0:17:05 | 0:17:09 | |
Could be a multitude of different things, really. | 0:17:09 | 0:17:11 | |
Anything from kidney stones to a water infection. | 0:17:11 | 0:17:14 | |
We'll see what the history is before we get there | 0:17:14 | 0:17:16 | |
and see if we can help her out. | 0:17:16 | 0:17:19 | |
-Down here. -John's a regular visitor to this patient. | 0:17:29 | 0:17:32 | |
-Oh, hello. I've met you before! -HE LAUGHS | 0:17:32 | 0:17:35 | |
So, what's been going on again? Remind me. | 0:17:35 | 0:17:38 | |
-I've slept since. -Keep getting this pain in me stomach. -Yeah. | 0:17:38 | 0:17:42 | |
-Me groin and me leg. -OK. -I keep having flare-ups. | 0:17:42 | 0:17:45 | |
I was great, I've been down the park with the kids, | 0:17:45 | 0:17:48 | |
I've done nothing strenuous, have I? | 0:17:48 | 0:17:50 | |
It's just come on with a vengeance. | 0:17:50 | 0:17:52 | |
SHE GROANS | 0:17:53 | 0:17:55 | |
'It started off three years ago.' | 0:17:55 | 0:17:57 | |
I had this really intense pain. | 0:17:57 | 0:17:59 | |
I thought it was appendicitis, | 0:17:59 | 0:18:02 | |
and so did the doctors when I got to hospital, but it wasn't. | 0:18:02 | 0:18:06 | |
They did every test imaginable. | 0:18:06 | 0:18:09 | |
I was in there for four days and they couldn't find out what it was. | 0:18:09 | 0:18:13 | |
And after that, it seemed to be every week | 0:18:13 | 0:18:16 | |
I was calling an ambulance for this pain, excruciating. | 0:18:16 | 0:18:20 | |
I can't explain how bad it was. | 0:18:20 | 0:18:23 | |
I'm in agony. | 0:18:23 | 0:18:25 | |
I've had three children | 0:18:25 | 0:18:27 | |
and I would rather give birth five times than go through that pain. | 0:18:27 | 0:18:31 | |
-And it comes in spasms. -BEEPING | 0:18:32 | 0:18:35 | |
Oh... | 0:18:35 | 0:18:36 | |
It's me back. | 0:18:37 | 0:18:39 | |
-Right. -I've lost two discs in me back. | 0:18:39 | 0:18:41 | |
-Right. -And me bones are crumbling. | 0:18:41 | 0:18:44 | |
-And it's dust hitting the nerves. -BEEPING | 0:18:44 | 0:18:47 | |
-OK... It's all right. -Ah... | 0:18:47 | 0:18:49 | |
Wendy's condition is chronic. | 0:18:49 | 0:18:51 | |
All John can do is offer her relief from her pain. | 0:18:53 | 0:18:56 | |
Get a cannula into her hand. | 0:18:56 | 0:18:58 | |
-Give her some morphine, we'll pop up to... -INDISTINCT | 0:18:58 | 0:19:00 | |
-This lady... She's known to me. -HE LAUGHS | 0:19:00 | 0:19:03 | |
She's, erm, had a long standing issue with this, problems, | 0:19:03 | 0:19:06 | |
with the pain going down to her arm. | 0:19:06 | 0:19:08 | |
She's waiting to see the pain clinic. | 0:19:08 | 0:19:10 | |
Basically, long-term chronic pain relief. | 0:19:10 | 0:19:12 | |
-Needle in. -Ah... -BEEPING | 0:19:14 | 0:19:16 | |
Ooh... | 0:19:16 | 0:19:18 | |
Let's have your right hand, sweetheart. | 0:19:18 | 0:19:20 | |
Yeah, but wait till this goes. | 0:19:20 | 0:19:22 | |
Ooh! | 0:19:22 | 0:19:23 | |
BEEPING | 0:19:24 | 0:19:25 | |
-Sorry. -That's all right. | 0:19:27 | 0:19:29 | |
I hate these. | 0:19:29 | 0:19:31 | |
'You do get used to seeing people in pain. | 0:19:31 | 0:19:32 | |
'That's definitely part of the job.' | 0:19:32 | 0:19:35 | |
It's worse to deal with when you can't do anything about it. | 0:19:35 | 0:19:38 | |
We've got quite significant pain killers we can give intravenously, | 0:19:38 | 0:19:42 | |
but when you've given all that you can give and they're still in pain, | 0:19:42 | 0:19:46 | |
it's quite hard to deal with. | 0:19:46 | 0:19:49 | |
You can have... | 0:19:49 | 0:19:50 | |
All you can offer them is sympathy, really. | 0:19:50 | 0:19:53 | |
It shouldn't take three years, should it, to be pain free? | 0:19:53 | 0:19:57 | |
The problem is, we don't really know what's causing it, do we? | 0:19:57 | 0:20:00 | |
-No. -If you don't, it's... | 0:20:00 | 0:20:03 | |
When you don't know what's wrong with you, but you're in constant, | 0:20:03 | 0:20:07 | |
constant pain, you do get angry and frustrated. | 0:20:07 | 0:20:11 | |
You know, what the hell is going on? | 0:20:11 | 0:20:13 | |
Am I going to die? And you do think that a lot. | 0:20:13 | 0:20:16 | |
I've had very dark days - and I have cried and cried, | 0:20:16 | 0:20:19 | |
and it's an awful thing to say to your children, | 0:20:19 | 0:20:21 | |
but I've even said to my children, | 0:20:21 | 0:20:24 | |
if this is the rest of my life, I don't want it. | 0:20:24 | 0:20:28 | |
BEEPING | 0:20:29 | 0:20:30 | |
How are you feeling now? | 0:20:30 | 0:20:32 | |
-A bit better. -Anything kicking in? | 0:20:32 | 0:20:34 | |
Anything making you feel funny? | 0:20:34 | 0:20:37 | |
-Sorry? -Anything making you feel funny? | 0:20:37 | 0:20:39 | |
No, I'm all right. Just itching. | 0:20:39 | 0:20:41 | |
-Just my arm's itching. -And that's normal for you? -Yeah. | 0:20:41 | 0:20:44 | |
It's instant, as soon as the morphine goes in, me arm itches. | 0:20:46 | 0:20:50 | |
It's ever such a funny sensation. | 0:20:52 | 0:20:54 | |
-What is? -Oh, you can feel it all up here. | 0:20:54 | 0:20:57 | |
BEEPING | 0:20:57 | 0:20:58 | |
It's a good job I've hit the right one, then. | 0:20:58 | 0:21:00 | |
WENDY LAUGHS | 0:21:00 | 0:21:01 | |
18 minutes after being given the morphine, | 0:21:04 | 0:21:07 | |
Wendy is on her way to hospital, to be given even stronger pain killers. | 0:21:07 | 0:21:11 | |
And from that day on, things finally started to improve. | 0:21:15 | 0:21:19 | |
I changed doctors - and she was marvellous, | 0:21:19 | 0:21:22 | |
and got me to see different specialists. | 0:21:22 | 0:21:25 | |
And things started to really move, then. | 0:21:25 | 0:21:27 | |
And I had an MRI scan, and I finally had a diagnosis. | 0:21:27 | 0:21:31 | |
After three years. It was amazing. | 0:21:33 | 0:21:34 | |
WENDY LAUGHS | 0:21:34 | 0:21:36 | |
I've been diagnosed with disc degeneration. | 0:21:36 | 0:21:39 | |
After the diagnosis, I went in for a procedure, which I think, | 0:21:39 | 0:21:45 | |
hope, has worked. I had injections in my back, into my nerve endings, | 0:21:45 | 0:21:49 | |
and I've only had the pain once since. | 0:21:49 | 0:21:53 | |
-So, we might be getting there now. -WENDY LAUGHS | 0:21:53 | 0:21:56 | |
It feels absolutely amazing. | 0:21:57 | 0:22:00 | |
It really does. | 0:22:00 | 0:22:01 | |
I feel like I've got a life again, | 0:22:01 | 0:22:04 | |
cos my life was put on hold for three years. | 0:22:04 | 0:22:07 | |
In those days, I just felt that life wasn't worth living. | 0:22:07 | 0:22:11 | |
I am so grateful to every paramedic I have seen. | 0:22:11 | 0:22:15 | |
They are worth their weight in gold. | 0:22:15 | 0:22:17 | |
They really are. If I could give them a medal, I would. | 0:22:17 | 0:22:20 | |
WENDY LAUGHS | 0:22:20 | 0:22:22 | |
AMBULANCE SIREN | 0:22:22 | 0:22:23 | |
The West Midlands Ambulance Service has 100 rapid response vehicles, | 0:22:29 | 0:22:34 | |
all crewed by single paramedics with advanced skills. | 0:22:34 | 0:22:37 | |
We drive a fast car, | 0:22:40 | 0:22:42 | |
and we tend to get there first on scene. | 0:22:42 | 0:22:45 | |
We're used in different ways. If it's a real serious job, | 0:22:45 | 0:22:49 | |
they will respond us, as well as an ambulance. | 0:22:49 | 0:22:52 | |
With a job with less priority, | 0:22:52 | 0:22:55 | |
Control will tend to wait on our say, | 0:22:55 | 0:22:58 | |
so if we need any backup. | 0:22:58 | 0:22:59 | |
Today, Kathryn is on her way to treat a teenager, | 0:23:02 | 0:23:05 | |
suffering from a debilitating illness. | 0:23:05 | 0:23:07 | |
We've got a 15-year-old with Crohn's disease, | 0:23:07 | 0:23:10 | |
and he's got severe abdominal pain. | 0:23:10 | 0:23:12 | |
Hello! | 0:23:23 | 0:23:24 | |
-Straight through? -Yeah, straight through. | 0:23:24 | 0:23:26 | |
-There you go. -What's been going on, then? | 0:23:26 | 0:23:29 | |
Hello, young man. | 0:23:29 | 0:23:30 | |
-He's been vomiting. -Right. -And he's just not well today. | 0:23:30 | 0:23:34 | |
He said, "Mum, I'm not well, I don't feel well." | 0:23:34 | 0:23:36 | |
I didn't feel right that day, | 0:23:36 | 0:23:38 | |
cos I got out of the car and I was sweating. | 0:23:38 | 0:23:40 | |
I just felt dizzy. I went as white as a ghost. | 0:23:40 | 0:23:45 | |
And then, all of a sudden, I just started being sick. | 0:23:45 | 0:23:48 | |
He's got Crohn's disease. | 0:23:48 | 0:23:50 | |
-Yes? -So, it's in his stomach, his large colon and his genitals. | 0:23:50 | 0:23:55 | |
Right. I'm just going to do a few little observations on you. | 0:23:55 | 0:23:59 | |
Is that OK? Yeah? Kyle? | 0:23:59 | 0:24:02 | |
If we had a score of one to ten, one being a little pain, | 0:24:02 | 0:24:08 | |
ten being a massive pain, what would you put it at? | 0:24:08 | 0:24:12 | |
-Ten. -So, it's that bad. All right. | 0:24:12 | 0:24:14 | |
The pain felt like someone was | 0:24:14 | 0:24:16 | |
just repeatedly kicking me in the stomach, over and over. | 0:24:16 | 0:24:20 | |
I gave Kyle a drug called Entonox, | 0:24:20 | 0:24:23 | |
which is basically gas and nitrous oxide. | 0:24:23 | 0:24:27 | |
Have you ever had any gas and air before? | 0:24:27 | 0:24:29 | |
Entonox, yeah? | 0:24:29 | 0:24:31 | |
It is brilliant as a first-line pain reliever. | 0:24:31 | 0:24:36 | |
-Is that OK? -Mmm... | 0:24:36 | 0:24:38 | |
-Is that OK, Mum? -Yeah, that's fine. -OK. | 0:24:38 | 0:24:40 | |
And then, we'll get some little observations done on you. | 0:24:40 | 0:24:43 | |
All right. | 0:24:43 | 0:24:45 | |
Let me just get you some transport. | 0:24:45 | 0:24:47 | |
52, thank you, we'll have an amber response, please. He needs to go in. | 0:24:47 | 0:24:51 | |
-What was that, mate? -I'm really cold. | 0:24:53 | 0:24:55 | |
Oh, no. Let's get you covered up a bit, | 0:24:55 | 0:24:57 | |
and then we'll do some observations on you. Has it been this bad before? | 0:24:57 | 0:25:02 | |
It has. | 0:25:02 | 0:25:04 | |
Kyle was diagnosed three months ago, after suffering for two years. | 0:25:06 | 0:25:10 | |
All right, and just have a... | 0:25:10 | 0:25:12 | |
You need to make a noise. | 0:25:12 | 0:25:14 | |
-RASPING SOUND -That's it. That's the noise. | 0:25:14 | 0:25:17 | |
When a child is quiet, | 0:25:17 | 0:25:20 | |
it's usually an indication that they're poorly. | 0:25:20 | 0:25:23 | |
Keep going with that. It might make you go a little bit light-headed, | 0:25:23 | 0:25:26 | |
sweetheart, but it'll help with that pain, all right? | 0:25:26 | 0:25:30 | |
And with Kyle, he was listening, | 0:25:30 | 0:25:31 | |
and he was talking to me, but not really making conversation. | 0:25:31 | 0:25:36 | |
But as he was taking the gas and air, | 0:25:36 | 0:25:39 | |
he started to relax a lot more and talk to me a lot more. | 0:25:39 | 0:25:42 | |
You're not supposed to be bad in the school holidays! | 0:25:44 | 0:25:47 | |
It's term time to be bad! | 0:25:47 | 0:25:49 | |
-Oh, do you? Because of your condition? -Yeah. -Dear me. | 0:25:51 | 0:25:55 | |
I'm just going to pop this in your ear, my love. | 0:25:56 | 0:25:58 | |
Keep sucking on that. | 0:25:58 | 0:25:59 | |
HISSING SOUND | 0:25:59 | 0:26:00 | |
OK. | 0:26:03 | 0:26:04 | |
Temperature's OK. | 0:26:04 | 0:26:06 | |
Is it just taking the edge off it a little bit for you? | 0:26:06 | 0:26:09 | |
Suck a bit harder. | 0:26:09 | 0:26:11 | |
That's better. That's better. | 0:26:11 | 0:26:13 | |
All right. It will help. | 0:26:13 | 0:26:15 | |
-All right, Mum? -Yep. | 0:26:15 | 0:26:17 | |
OK. | 0:26:17 | 0:26:19 | |
I've never seen my son like that, ever. | 0:26:19 | 0:26:21 | |
I thought I'd lost him. | 0:26:21 | 0:26:23 | |
I always say, trust Mum's instinct, they know best. | 0:26:23 | 0:26:27 | |
And she knows that Kyle's quite poorly today, | 0:26:27 | 0:26:30 | |
and she's had the good sense to ring an ambulance, | 0:26:30 | 0:26:33 | |
so we're going to pop him up the hospital. | 0:26:33 | 0:26:35 | |
All of his obs are OK, | 0:26:35 | 0:26:37 | |
but he's not OK, so we need to get this sorted. | 0:26:37 | 0:26:41 | |
The Entonox really seemed to help him and relax him. | 0:26:41 | 0:26:45 | |
By the time the crew got there, | 0:26:45 | 0:26:48 | |
he was a lot more relaxed in his stance, as well. | 0:26:48 | 0:26:50 | |
You could see. You've got one of the best paramedics in the world here. | 0:26:50 | 0:26:54 | |
-All right, then. Hello. -Hiya. | 0:26:54 | 0:26:56 | |
This is Kyle. He's always in pain. Right? | 0:26:56 | 0:26:59 | |
-But today, he's been in a lot of pain... -Vomiting... | 0:26:59 | 0:27:02 | |
And he's been vomiting. | 0:27:02 | 0:27:04 | |
Not while I've been here. All of his obs are perfect. | 0:27:04 | 0:27:07 | |
OK? | 0:27:07 | 0:27:08 | |
Lost quite a bit of weight. | 0:27:09 | 0:27:11 | |
Now the crew are here, we're going to go down the line of giving him | 0:27:11 | 0:27:14 | |
some paracetamol, but in a drip. | 0:27:14 | 0:27:16 | |
-Yeah. -Is that OK with you? | 0:27:16 | 0:27:18 | |
-Is that OK with you? -As long as it gets me better, I'm happy. | 0:27:18 | 0:27:22 | |
-That's it. -It will help take the pain away and then we'll get | 0:27:22 | 0:27:24 | |
the doctors to get you better, all right? Just pop them in. | 0:27:24 | 0:27:28 | |
-And the other one. -VOICES TALK OVER EACH OTHER | 0:27:28 | 0:27:30 | |
It's quite hard on your bottom. | 0:27:30 | 0:27:32 | |
-All right. -All right. | 0:27:32 | 0:27:34 | |
It was awful. He couldn't stand. | 0:27:34 | 0:27:37 | |
He didn't know where to go. | 0:27:37 | 0:27:39 | |
He was so thin. | 0:27:39 | 0:27:40 | |
He'd lost so much weight. | 0:27:40 | 0:27:42 | |
A bit of a bump, OK? | 0:27:42 | 0:27:43 | |
Backwards all right? | 0:27:48 | 0:27:50 | |
Nice and steady. | 0:27:50 | 0:27:51 | |
Ready? | 0:27:51 | 0:27:53 | |
Bring your feet up. | 0:27:54 | 0:27:57 | |
At least I've got some smiles now. | 0:27:58 | 0:28:01 | |
Smiles from Kyles! | 0:28:01 | 0:28:02 | |
Later at hospital, | 0:28:04 | 0:28:06 | |
they found the source of Kyle's pain was not his Crohn's. | 0:28:06 | 0:28:09 | |
They took bloods from him, they came to us and they said | 0:28:09 | 0:28:13 | |
Kyle was given a tablet called Azathioprine, for Crohn's disease, | 0:28:13 | 0:28:19 | |
but the trouble was, there is side effects with this drug. | 0:28:19 | 0:28:23 | |
Now, it doesn't affect everybody, but unfortunately, | 0:28:23 | 0:28:25 | |
Kyle was one of the people that it does affect. | 0:28:25 | 0:28:27 | |
When I got to the hospital, they found what was upsetting me, | 0:28:27 | 0:28:32 | |
which was the tablets. | 0:28:32 | 0:28:33 | |
They gave me morphine, paracetamol, | 0:28:33 | 0:28:37 | |
and everything, cos I was in too much pain. | 0:28:37 | 0:28:39 | |
The drug that Kyle was on for Crohn's | 0:28:39 | 0:28:42 | |
caused him to have inflammation of the pancreas. | 0:28:42 | 0:28:46 | |
It can be fatal if it bursts. | 0:28:46 | 0:28:48 | |
So, in one respect, | 0:28:49 | 0:28:52 | |
I was glad Kyle collapsed, because everything came to a head then. | 0:28:52 | 0:28:57 | |
Thank you to them for finding it, otherwise it could've been fatal. | 0:28:57 | 0:29:02 | |
Cos, as my pancreas was swelling, it could've burst, | 0:29:02 | 0:29:05 | |
which could've killed me. | 0:29:05 | 0:29:06 | |
He was lucky. He was so lucky. | 0:29:06 | 0:29:08 | |
Kyle continues to work with consultants | 0:29:10 | 0:29:12 | |
at Birmingham Children's Hospital | 0:29:12 | 0:29:14 | |
to find ways of dealing with his Crohn's. | 0:29:14 | 0:29:17 | |
How have you been? | 0:29:17 | 0:29:18 | |
It could be better. | 0:29:18 | 0:29:20 | |
All the swelling's come back, | 0:29:20 | 0:29:22 | |
the redness, and it's weeping again, so... | 0:29:22 | 0:29:24 | |
-OK. -And it's hard to walk again, so... -OK. -..I don't know what to do. | 0:29:24 | 0:29:29 | |
He's got a great group of doctors | 0:29:29 | 0:29:31 | |
who are helping him, and they get their heads together, | 0:29:31 | 0:29:34 | |
and I know somewhere down the line, they will sort him out. | 0:29:34 | 0:29:38 | |
I'm pretty confident that day will come. | 0:29:38 | 0:29:40 | |
It might take a few more years, but at least it will be gone, | 0:29:40 | 0:29:44 | |
and I just wish I could be normal, like everyone else. | 0:29:44 | 0:29:47 | |
AMBULANCE SIREN | 0:29:47 | 0:29:48 | |
More than 3.5 million people in the UK are living with diabetes. | 0:29:54 | 0:29:59 | |
There are quite a large amount of diabetic patients | 0:29:59 | 0:30:01 | |
within the population, but people manage themselves. | 0:30:01 | 0:30:04 | |
They know how to manage it on a day-to-day basis. | 0:30:04 | 0:30:07 | |
We only get called when it becomes a crisis, | 0:30:07 | 0:30:09 | |
when the blood sugars are too low, or too high. | 0:30:09 | 0:30:12 | |
For diabetic patients, the best thing is routine. | 0:30:12 | 0:30:15 | |
You can do whatever you want, really, in your life, | 0:30:15 | 0:30:17 | |
as long as it's kept in a routine. | 0:30:17 | 0:30:19 | |
John's in Stourbridge on his sixth job of the day. | 0:30:19 | 0:30:23 | |
We're off to a 76-year-old lady. | 0:30:23 | 0:30:26 | |
Just says she's got diabetic problems at the minute. | 0:30:26 | 0:30:29 | |
There's no further details. | 0:30:29 | 0:30:30 | |
I'm assuming the call's still in progress, | 0:30:30 | 0:30:33 | |
and they're trying to ascertain what's going on. | 0:30:33 | 0:30:35 | |
We've just had an update come through. | 0:30:44 | 0:30:46 | |
The lady is what they call a hypo, | 0:30:46 | 0:30:48 | |
so her blood sugar's gone too low for her to function properly. | 0:30:48 | 0:30:51 | |
If the blood sugar just keeps dropping, | 0:30:51 | 0:30:53 | |
basically, the body shuts down. | 0:30:53 | 0:30:55 | |
'Just ahead, turn right.' | 0:30:55 | 0:30:58 | |
So it really just depends quickly we can get there. | 0:30:58 | 0:31:00 | |
'You have reached your destination.' | 0:31:00 | 0:31:03 | |
Left untreated, a hypoglycaemic incident, or hypo, can be fatal. | 0:31:06 | 0:31:11 | |
-Hiya. -Hiya. -How we doing? | 0:31:19 | 0:31:21 | |
-She's managing to swallow. -Excellent. | 0:31:22 | 0:31:24 | |
-So I'm giving her a bit of Lucozade. -Super-duper. | 0:31:24 | 0:31:27 | |
-But I'm just wondering, you know, whether she's had a stroke. -OK. | 0:31:27 | 0:31:30 | |
What we'll do, because they present in a similar way, | 0:31:30 | 0:31:33 | |
-we'll make sure the blood sugar's all right and deal with that. -OK. | 0:31:33 | 0:31:36 | |
The best way to tell the difference between a stroke and a hypo | 0:31:36 | 0:31:40 | |
episode is basically we do a blood sugar test. | 0:31:40 | 0:31:43 | |
So a pinprick on the end of the finger. | 0:31:43 | 0:31:46 | |
If it's below four, we know the patient is hypo, | 0:31:46 | 0:31:48 | |
so we treat them for that. | 0:31:48 | 0:31:50 | |
How often does she have a hypo? | 0:31:50 | 0:31:52 | |
She hasn't had as many recently, but she's not been very well. | 0:31:52 | 0:31:55 | |
-She's on antibiotics for pneumonia at the minute. -Right. | 0:31:55 | 0:31:58 | |
We'd just come up to visit my mum. | 0:31:58 | 0:32:00 | |
My dad said she'd been asleep for a couple of hours, | 0:32:00 | 0:32:03 | |
so my daughter came up to see how she was, | 0:32:03 | 0:32:06 | |
and she couldn't wake her. | 0:32:06 | 0:32:08 | |
All right. I'm just going to do your blood sugar again. | 0:32:08 | 0:32:11 | |
Come here, chicken. There we go. | 0:32:11 | 0:32:13 | |
Sharp scratch, my darling. | 0:32:13 | 0:32:14 | |
-2.1. -That's a bit better. | 0:32:18 | 0:32:20 | |
-It was 1.6 when I did it. -Okey dokey. | 0:32:20 | 0:32:23 | |
With the reading below four, a stroke is ruled out. | 0:32:23 | 0:32:27 | |
John prepares to raise Pat's blood sugar levels. | 0:32:27 | 0:32:30 | |
Has she had a Glucagon injection lately? | 0:32:30 | 0:32:33 | |
-No. -She's quite well managed, then? | 0:32:33 | 0:32:35 | |
Well... | 0:32:35 | 0:32:37 | |
We can give an injection in the arm called Glucagon, | 0:32:39 | 0:32:41 | |
which is a synthetic hormone, which releases the body's own stores. | 0:32:41 | 0:32:45 | |
Well done, darling. | 0:32:45 | 0:32:46 | |
We can also give an intravenous drip of glucose 10%, | 0:32:46 | 0:32:52 | |
which is basically the body's rocket fuel. | 0:32:52 | 0:32:55 | |
As long as it's blood sugar, we know we can fix it here. | 0:32:55 | 0:32:58 | |
That's always the bonus with it. | 0:32:58 | 0:32:59 | |
That's all right. | 0:32:59 | 0:33:01 | |
Her blood pressure's fine, oxygen levels are OK. | 0:33:01 | 0:33:04 | |
Her ECGs are all looking good. | 0:33:04 | 0:33:06 | |
How we doing, Pat? | 0:33:06 | 0:33:07 | |
Are you with us yet? | 0:33:09 | 0:33:11 | |
-Is there a hint of realisation going on here now? -Yeah. | 0:33:11 | 0:33:14 | |
Filthy looks. | 0:33:14 | 0:33:16 | |
We've given her the injection now, | 0:33:16 | 0:33:17 | |
so hopefully it will start to build up, | 0:33:17 | 0:33:20 | |
but obviously as the brain's getting more oxygen into the system, | 0:33:20 | 0:33:23 | |
Pat's becoming more aware of everything. | 0:33:23 | 0:33:25 | |
But Pat's blood sugar level has dropped, rather than risen. | 0:33:25 | 0:33:28 | |
0.9. You're going the wrong way! | 0:33:28 | 0:33:31 | |
Are you trying to play me up? | 0:33:31 | 0:33:33 | |
So John decides to try a different method. | 0:33:33 | 0:33:36 | |
Because the blood sugar's still going down, | 0:33:36 | 0:33:39 | |
so we'll just pop a needle in her vein | 0:33:39 | 0:33:41 | |
and give her some glucose intravenously, | 0:33:41 | 0:33:43 | |
and we'll take it from there. | 0:33:43 | 0:33:44 | |
Come on then, trouble. | 0:33:44 | 0:33:46 | |
I've got a sneaking suspicion, | 0:33:48 | 0:33:50 | |
-it's because she hasn't been eating well. -Yeah. | 0:33:50 | 0:33:52 | |
Before John can put in a drip of more concentrated glucose, | 0:33:52 | 0:33:56 | |
Pat starts to come round. | 0:33:56 | 0:33:58 | |
-You're cold? We've got you talking. -That's all right. -That's better. | 0:33:58 | 0:34:01 | |
Well, I came up here to have a sleep. | 0:34:01 | 0:34:05 | |
-Yeah? You did. -You did well, you succeeded! | 0:34:05 | 0:34:08 | |
What's been the matter with me? | 0:34:08 | 0:34:11 | |
-You've had a hypo. -A hypo? | 0:34:11 | 0:34:14 | |
Yep, a good one this time. | 0:34:14 | 0:34:17 | |
John re-checks Pat's blood sugar levels. | 0:34:20 | 0:34:22 | |
She's sweating to death. | 0:34:24 | 0:34:26 | |
Oh, I was sweating. | 0:34:27 | 0:34:28 | |
-The blood's running. -5.5 now. -That's better. | 0:34:31 | 0:34:35 | |
It's taken 23 minutes for Pat's blood sugar level to return | 0:34:35 | 0:34:38 | |
to a healthy level since John first tested it. | 0:34:38 | 0:34:41 | |
-How long have you been here? -Oh, hours! | 0:34:41 | 0:34:46 | |
When we've given the medication and they suddenly come out of this | 0:34:47 | 0:34:51 | |
unconscious and confusing state and look at you, it's quite nice, | 0:34:51 | 0:34:54 | |
because someone could die from that, but you've treated them, | 0:34:54 | 0:34:57 | |
and nine times out of ten, they're lovely people. | 0:34:57 | 0:35:00 | |
They're nice jobs to do. | 0:35:00 | 0:35:01 | |
Lift your arms up for me, Pat, can you? Excellent. | 0:35:01 | 0:35:05 | |
Pat's blood sugar has miraculously spiked up to a normal level. | 0:35:05 | 0:35:09 | |
We're going to give her something to eat, jam sandwiches and sweet tea, | 0:35:09 | 0:35:12 | |
hopefully that will bring the sugars up even more, so... | 0:35:12 | 0:35:15 | |
15 minutes later, Pat's almost back to her old self. | 0:35:19 | 0:35:23 | |
I can't ever remember anything like this. | 0:35:23 | 0:35:27 | |
I've had a hypo, but it's only like a small one, as you'd say. | 0:35:27 | 0:35:34 | |
She doesn't do what she's told, | 0:35:34 | 0:35:36 | |
but she doesn't seem to think that it's a problem. | 0:35:36 | 0:35:39 | |
She can eat when she wants, and drink when she wants, | 0:35:39 | 0:35:42 | |
and not check her blood sugars when she should do. | 0:35:42 | 0:35:44 | |
She's back to normal again now, making jokes and laughing, | 0:35:47 | 0:35:50 | |
so, that's my mum back again, yeah. | 0:35:50 | 0:35:52 | |
Initially, I thought I was going to have to give her some intravenous | 0:35:52 | 0:35:55 | |
glucose, because that blood sugar didn't come up, | 0:35:55 | 0:35:58 | |
but then she just suddenly spiked, and perfectly back to normal. | 0:35:58 | 0:36:01 | |
She admitted she hasn't been eating very well | 0:36:01 | 0:36:03 | |
and taking her meds as she should, so she's going to speak to the GP, | 0:36:03 | 0:36:06 | |
and get the district nurse to sort her out. | 0:36:06 | 0:36:09 | |
The daughter's a nurse as well, so we'll leave her to sort her mum out | 0:36:09 | 0:36:12 | |
and give her a telling-off! | 0:36:12 | 0:36:13 | |
But, yep, ultimate result was ideal. | 0:36:13 | 0:36:15 | |
Four months later, Pat has recovered from her episode, | 0:36:15 | 0:36:19 | |
but it seems she still hasn't learned her lesson. | 0:36:19 | 0:36:21 | |
I mean, she's been diabetic for a long time, | 0:36:21 | 0:36:24 | |
and she's got very blase with things that she eats | 0:36:24 | 0:36:27 | |
and how often she does her blood sugars. | 0:36:27 | 0:36:30 | |
Very often, she'll have a piece of chocolate, | 0:36:30 | 0:36:33 | |
and instead of having one piece, she'll have three pieces, | 0:36:33 | 0:36:36 | |
and the same with biscuits, | 0:36:36 | 0:36:37 | |
and she's very partial to a piece of cake, now and again. | 0:36:37 | 0:36:40 | |
John, the paramedic, was fantastic. | 0:36:40 | 0:36:42 | |
He was very reassuring. | 0:36:42 | 0:36:45 | |
He spoke to Mum continuously. | 0:36:45 | 0:36:47 | |
Without John, definitely, Mum wouldn't be here. | 0:36:47 | 0:36:51 | |
It was touch-and-go at that point, because her blood sugar was so low. | 0:36:51 | 0:36:55 | |
So it was the quick response of them getting round here, | 0:36:55 | 0:36:59 | |
and being able to act on her blood sugar quickly, | 0:36:59 | 0:37:02 | |
saved her life. | 0:37:02 | 0:37:04 | |
The profession of a paramedic is all about helping people. | 0:37:11 | 0:37:15 | |
When the elderly call for us, | 0:37:15 | 0:37:16 | |
it appears that they're quite brave-faced sometimes. | 0:37:16 | 0:37:19 | |
They seem to shrug off the sort of problem that they have at that time, | 0:37:19 | 0:37:22 | |
their long-term condition. | 0:37:22 | 0:37:24 | |
They almost treat us as sort of, | 0:37:24 | 0:37:27 | |
or treat themselves as being a hindrance to us, | 0:37:27 | 0:37:30 | |
which certainly isn't the case. | 0:37:30 | 0:37:32 | |
In Stourbridge, paramedic Ste Hill is working the late shift. | 0:37:34 | 0:37:38 | |
We're on the way to a 999 call to a gentleman | 0:37:38 | 0:37:42 | |
who looks like he's fallen on the floor and he's got a back injury. | 0:37:42 | 0:37:46 | |
The chances are he's just tumbled at home, | 0:37:46 | 0:37:48 | |
but particularly in the elderly, there's a chance of fractures, | 0:37:48 | 0:37:50 | |
which is greater than it would be in a healthier, younger, fitter person. | 0:37:50 | 0:37:55 | |
Hello? | 0:38:06 | 0:38:07 | |
Ambulance. | 0:38:08 | 0:38:09 | |
Hello there, young man. | 0:38:10 | 0:38:12 | |
Right, what's your name, mate? | 0:38:13 | 0:38:14 | |
-What's your name? -Leonard. | 0:38:16 | 0:38:18 | |
-Leonard, hello. Do you like to be called Len? -Len. -Len. Hello, Len. | 0:38:18 | 0:38:22 | |
-What happened to you? -I've fallen down and I can't get up. | 0:38:22 | 0:38:25 | |
-I've got a dicky leg, won't support my weight. -OK. | 0:38:25 | 0:38:29 | |
Where have you fallen from, Len? | 0:38:29 | 0:38:31 | |
-Just off the chair. -Have you injured yourself at all? | 0:38:31 | 0:38:34 | |
-No. -Have you got any pains anywhere? | 0:38:34 | 0:38:36 | |
-No. -All right. What I'm going to do, if it's OK, | 0:38:36 | 0:38:38 | |
I'll check you over top to bottom, | 0:38:38 | 0:38:40 | |
-to make sure you haven't hurt yourself. -Fair enough. -OK, mate. | 0:38:40 | 0:38:43 | |
All right, anything on your head at all? | 0:38:43 | 0:38:45 | |
-No. -Any pain down your neck or your back? -No. | 0:38:45 | 0:38:47 | |
Can you pop your legs flat on the floor? | 0:38:47 | 0:38:50 | |
-Very awkward. -Can you move your legs for me? | 0:38:50 | 0:38:52 | |
Can you bend them up? OK. | 0:38:52 | 0:38:54 | |
All right. Let's just have a feel of your wrist. | 0:38:54 | 0:38:56 | |
I've got COPD and a dicky heart. | 0:38:56 | 0:38:59 | |
All right. | 0:38:59 | 0:39:00 | |
Did you just slip? Is that the reason you ended up on the floor? | 0:39:00 | 0:39:03 | |
OK. | 0:39:03 | 0:39:04 | |
COPD stands for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, | 0:39:04 | 0:39:08 | |
a lung condition which makes breathing difficult. | 0:39:08 | 0:39:12 | |
All right, then. Thank God for that. | 0:39:12 | 0:39:14 | |
No problem. Can we do a few observations? | 0:39:14 | 0:39:17 | |
Check your blood pressure and whatnot? | 0:39:17 | 0:39:19 | |
-No problem. -OK, mate. | 0:39:19 | 0:39:21 | |
Following Len's fall, we've got to rule out with Len's age, | 0:39:21 | 0:39:25 | |
any further injuries or medical conditions | 0:39:25 | 0:39:27 | |
that maybe could have caused his fall. | 0:39:27 | 0:39:30 | |
We're just going to do a routine sequence of checks now, | 0:39:30 | 0:39:32 | |
and make sure that everything's as it should be. | 0:39:32 | 0:39:35 | |
All being well, he'll stay here, I don't think he'll go to hospital. | 0:39:35 | 0:39:38 | |
OK, mate, it's just going to tighten your arm, OK. | 0:39:38 | 0:39:41 | |
Just pop these on your wrists and your ankles. | 0:39:41 | 0:39:43 | |
Right then, Len, this machine picks up any big movements, | 0:39:43 | 0:39:45 | |
so I just want you to relax for me, OK? | 0:39:45 | 0:39:48 | |
That's OK. Everything's OK. | 0:39:56 | 0:39:58 | |
We've done a full set of observations, everything is normal, | 0:39:58 | 0:40:01 | |
normal for him. | 0:40:01 | 0:40:03 | |
His ECG, his blood pressure, his oxygen levels, everything's good. | 0:40:03 | 0:40:07 | |
I think it's just a case now of making sure he's happy here at home. | 0:40:07 | 0:40:10 | |
-All right, Len? -Can't grumble for 86. | 0:40:10 | 0:40:13 | |
It turns out that Len's fall was down to a war injury. | 0:40:13 | 0:40:18 | |
I got wounded in the Army in Korea | 0:40:18 | 0:40:22 | |
in that knee, | 0:40:22 | 0:40:25 | |
and it won't bear any weight. | 0:40:25 | 0:40:27 | |
Yeah. How did you get injured in Korea? What happened? | 0:40:27 | 0:40:30 | |
I was a clerk, believe it or not, | 0:40:30 | 0:40:33 | |
and the Brigade Major came to me and said, | 0:40:33 | 0:40:37 | |
"Corporal, can you read a map?" | 0:40:37 | 0:40:39 | |
And I said, "Yes, sir." | 0:40:39 | 0:40:42 | |
So he said, "Right, take these two trucks | 0:40:42 | 0:40:45 | |
"to 1st RAR and 2nd RAR." | 0:40:45 | 0:40:48 | |
-Yup. -Which was up north, | 0:40:48 | 0:40:50 | |
where the Nationalists was, | 0:40:50 | 0:40:53 | |
and we was going across country to 2nd RAR | 0:40:53 | 0:40:56 | |
when the Chinese opened up with a heavy machinegun. | 0:40:56 | 0:41:01 | |
And they killed the driver. | 0:41:01 | 0:41:04 | |
-Yeah. -And the round bounced off a rock, | 0:41:04 | 0:41:07 | |
and a piece of it hit me in the knee. | 0:41:07 | 0:41:10 | |
A piece of the rock, or a piece of the round? | 0:41:10 | 0:41:12 | |
-A piece of the round. -Oh, right. | 0:41:12 | 0:41:14 | |
I drove the wagon myself up to 2nd RAR, | 0:41:14 | 0:41:20 | |
even with a bad leg. | 0:41:20 | 0:41:22 | |
-Were the Aussies grateful that you got the vehicle there? -Oh, yeah. | 0:41:22 | 0:41:26 | |
Yeah? Did they know the trauma you'd gone through to get it there? | 0:41:26 | 0:41:29 | |
-I didn't tell them, did I? -You kept that to yourself. | 0:41:29 | 0:41:32 | |
I told them about the poor driver being killed. | 0:41:32 | 0:41:35 | |
-Yeah. -And falling out the wagon. | 0:41:35 | 0:41:37 | |
Yeah, of course. | 0:41:37 | 0:41:39 | |
I think you want a cup of tea, don't you? | 0:41:39 | 0:41:41 | |
-I'd love one. -How do you take it? -Three sugars, but not a full cup. | 0:41:41 | 0:41:45 | |
Three sugars, but not a full cup. | 0:41:45 | 0:41:46 | |
I dread to think how much sugar you'd have in a full cup, then! | 0:41:46 | 0:41:49 | |
Well, I've got a sweet tooth! | 0:41:49 | 0:41:52 | |
Let me get the kettle on. | 0:41:52 | 0:41:54 | |
Part of being a paramedic is how make a good cup of tea. | 0:41:54 | 0:41:58 | |
Our job's not always about sort of, like, patching up the injured | 0:41:58 | 0:42:01 | |
and really unwell people, | 0:42:01 | 0:42:03 | |
it's quite nice having a chat to the senior generation, | 0:42:03 | 0:42:05 | |
because they've got lots of life experiences. | 0:42:05 | 0:42:08 | |
I think he's enjoyed telling us the tale, | 0:42:08 | 0:42:10 | |
and we've enjoyed listening. | 0:42:10 | 0:42:11 | |
So it was nice to have a chat to somebody and you know they're OK. | 0:42:11 | 0:42:15 | |
Here you go, Len, tea's up. | 0:42:15 | 0:42:16 | |
Sweet, three sugars. | 0:42:16 | 0:42:18 | |
All right, Len. Lovely to meet you. | 0:42:20 | 0:42:22 | |
All right. I'm glad you're OK. | 0:42:22 | 0:42:24 | |
-OK. -That's a fair old handshake. | 0:42:24 | 0:42:26 | |
You enjoy your cup of tea, all right? | 0:42:26 | 0:42:29 | |
-Yes. -Goodnight to you. | 0:42:29 | 0:42:30 | |
-All right, we'll lock up as we leave. Bye-bye. -Goodbye. | 0:42:30 | 0:42:34 | |
That was quite a nice story. | 0:42:35 | 0:42:36 | |
He's sustained an injury, and that's how we've come to meet him tonight. | 0:42:36 | 0:42:40 | |
So, obviously, he's survived the injury, | 0:42:40 | 0:42:42 | |
but that's how we've crossed paths tonight, | 0:42:42 | 0:42:44 | |
an injury sustained in the Korean War. | 0:42:44 | 0:42:46 | |
Sadly, seven weeks later, Len passed away, peacefully. | 0:42:49 | 0:42:53 | |
His family were happy for his story to be told. | 0:42:55 | 0:42:58 |